When career e-learning developers come into the trucking industry, they’re often struck by how different it is from other industries. The content itself is not usually an issue – every industry has its own quirks, acronyms and regulations.
Where it’s different is the focus on video-based training. In the broader learning and development world, video is generally regarded as a useful component of a larger training product, but not as a complete product on its own. Within trucking, though, video is often the only thing people think of for online training.
So how did trucking get to be so different from everyone else when it comes to online education?
In the early days, the only game in town when it came to training was getting truck drivers together for classroom sessions. It was inconvenient and disruptive to fleet operations, and if wheels weren’t rolling, both the driver and company weren’t making money. To minimize the pain, fleets only delivered the training they absolutely had to.
That began to change in the ’80s and ’90s when video emerged as another option. It solved part of the problem — it let people participate at any time, and it offered some consistency in delivery. But there were still issues: People still had to physically be there to watch, which meant the scheduling headaches didn’t disappear completely. Videotapes also had a habit of disappearing or breaking, and when regulations changed, fleets had to get new versions of the videos and make sure the old ones were pulled from circulation.
After dealing with all that, the emergence of the Internet and online video was a big relief for both vendors and fleets. With online video, there’s no physical product to ship, no issues with tapes disappearing or breaking, and people can access the content remotely, so they don’t have to come into the terminal. Having tests online also removed need for paper and simplified the record keeping process. (Courtesy of American Trucker)
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Advanced Training Systems has revolutionized the design and manufacture of high-tech simulators to improve driver training and create both better drivers and a safer world. In addition to hundreds of driving schools, we provide equipment and support for major shippers who do their own training, as well as customized solutions for those with particular training needs. For more information or to schedule a demo, please contact us here.